GIII Schuylerville

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Trainer Gary Contessa believes in Becky's Joker (Practical Joke) and is not going to waver from his against-the-grain approach with the massive 2-year-old filly. On the opening day of the Saratoga season, July 13, Contessa had her make her career debut in the GIII Schuylerville. She won for fun by 3 1/4 lengths at 21-1. According to Equibase, she is just the fifth horse since 1991 to start its career with a graded-stakes victory. After she worked four furlongs in :48.40 seconds on July 26, Contessa said she...

Much of the pre-race speculation about Saratoga's GIII Schuylerville S. for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the dirt seemed to focus on which Hall of Famer--D. Wayne Lukas or Todd Pletcher--would be the first to win the traditional opening-day feature for the record seventh time, unless another Hall of Famer--Steve Asmussen--got in the way. Instead, that trio had to settle for filling out the superfecta as it was another veteran conditioner, Gary Contessa, who notched his first Schuylerville win with Becky's Joker (Practical Joke--Becky's Best, by Elusive Quality), the...